Two Years After Massey Disaster, Mine Safety Agency Owns Up to Problems (Again)

[Omaha Steve]

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/12882/same_old_problems_cited_in_review_of_mine_safety_agency_performance/

Tuesday Mar 13, 2012 10:06 am

By Mike Elk

Last week, the Mine Safety and Health Administration released its internal review into the federal agency's role in the problems causing the 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners in the Upper Big Branch Mine owned by Massey Energy Company in West Virginia. While the report claims that MSHA's poor regulatory conduct did not cause the explosion, it did find that “MSHA and District 4 did not follow established agency policies and procedures.”

The report found that recommendations concerning a methane explosion that occurred at the Upper Big Branch Mine in 2004, similar to the one that caused the explosion, were not kept in the case files for MSHA inspectors. MSHA inspectors who inspected the mine before the 2010 explosion were unaware of these recommendations and thus did not pay attention to them.

The new report also found that the agency did not prosecute Massey for conditions that ultimately caused the explosion: dangerous accumulation of coal dust, as well as poor ventilation. It also found that, breaking from protocol, MSHA inspectors did not inspect the mine in “its entirety." And the internal review found that MSHA inspectors often did not review the mine's safety log books.

“Required inspections were not completed. Logbooks where critical information was supposed to be recorded about the conditions of the mine were not examined. MSHA District 4 supervisory personnel did not follow up on what were clearly flagrant violations of the law. These and many other failures allowed Massey to continue to get away with violating the law and putting its employees in danger every single day,” United Mine Workers of America President Cecil E. Roberts said in a press release.


A miner participates in a candelight vigil in April 2010 in West Virginia in remembrance of those killed in the Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster. (Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

FULL story at link.